The parents of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was shot and killed by a police officer in Mississippi, led a protest on Monday at the office of state Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who ruled last month that the fatal shooting was justified.
Cries of “our baby’s life mattered” echoed through the lobby as Kohen’s parents and a small group of activists demanded a meeting with Fitch, mississippitoday.org reported. Marquell Bridges, an activist working with the family, told reporters that the parents wanted Fitch to look them in the eyes and explain the justification ruling. Fitch’s chief of staff met the group in the lobby and informed them that the attorney general was not in the office.
A Fatal Walmart Parking Lot Confrontation
Kohen was killed on June 14 when a police officer in Senatobia, located about 40 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, fired his gun into a moving vehicle during a response to a shoplifting call involving diapers. Body-worn cameras show Kohen’s mother, Vellesiya Wiley, holding the toddler as she and another woman hurry across a Walmart parking lot to enter their vehicle. Five officers approach the parked car with drawn weapons. The vehicle reverses, crashes into a nearby parked vehicle, and then accelerates forward as Senatobia Sgt. Hunter Foster steps directly in front of it with his gun drawn. As the wheels turn away and Foster jumps out of the way, he fires his gun, shattering the front passenger-side window where Kohen sat on his mother’s lap.
The State of Mississippi subsequently released the body camera footage on Oct. 22, three days after Fitch’s office declared the shooting justified and declined to prosecute Foster, tri-statedefender.com reported. The release followed leaked portions of the footage circulating to news outlets before the family could view it privately.
“The word ‘justified’ has haunted me since Monday,” Veronica Roberson, Kohen’s maternal grandmother, said during an emotional news conference. “I went to work, and I had to find out through news sources. No one reached out to the family, no courtesy, not a single call, a heads-up, anything to prepare us for what we was about to face.”
Investigators Decline Prosecuting Officer After Monthslong Review
The Mississippi Attorney General’s office stated that its monthslong investigation concluded Foster’s use of force was appropriate, determining there was insufficient evidence of criminal conduct to pursue prosecution. Martin Zummach, an attorney representing Foster, maintained that his client had no choice but to fire because the approaching vehicle threatened to strike him.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing the family alongside Memphis attorney Van Turner, argued that the confrontation should never have escalated to gunfire and that the final shot was fired after the immediate danger had passed. Standing with family members at the Senatobia Church of Christ, Crump asserted that the shooting from the side was not justified.
The tragedy has generated months of mourning and ongoing demands for accountability both locally and nationally. The passing of what would have been Kohen’s second birthday brought renewed grief to the family.
Sitting outside the attorney general’s office while wearing a T-shirt bearing his son’s face and the words “Kohen should be 2. Vote in his honor,” Kohen’s father, Davion Williams, said it was “hard. It’s just hard to even express and talk about.” Williams added that he and his family have to keep his son’s name alive.
State Attorney General Faces Calls for Removal During Gubernatorial Run
Williams stated that he wants Foster prosecuted and Fitch removed from office. Fitch, a Republican, is running for governor in 2027.
